


Meet the Family

by mirkandmidnight



Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Meet the Family, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Vanessa's family is really intense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 22:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8864698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirkandmidnight/pseuds/mirkandmidnight
Summary: Vanessa's family is really intense.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for soulofgrunhold for the Fablehaven Secret Santa!

Vanessa doesn't do Christmas. She's never really loved the idea of the holiday; it seems too much like an excuse for businesses to sell things and for families to see each other once a year when every one of them hates each other. She doesn't go in for that sort of thing, and she certainly doesn't plan to see her own family.

That's why it's something of a surprise when the embossed invitation comes in the mail, inviting her to a family Christmas at home. 

Well, she isn't going, in any case. She has other things to do.

“So, why don't you go?” Warren asks, sipping a latte. “How long has it been since you've seen these people, anyway?”

They're sitting in Vanessa's car, outside a shopping mall, waiting for the kids to finish Christmas shopping. Kendra and Seth are on their own in the mall, sure, but these thinks the Fairy Queen's only human handmaiden and the youngest shadow charmer alive can probably handle themselves.

She wrinkles her nose. “See, that's the point. If I haven't seen them in a long time, it's because I don't want to see them.”

He shrugs. “I mean, sure, But aren't you even curious to see what they've been doing? I think it might be worth going.”

“Fine, you go then,” she snaps. Vanessa sighs and tightens her hands on the wheel. “Sorry.”

“No, it's fine.” Warren stares straight ahead out the window. I'd go with, if you wanted company.” The back door opens, and Kendra and Seth plops into the back seat, arms laden with bags. 

“Where's Warren going?” Seth asks.

“Nowhere,” Vanessa says, at the same time that Warren says, “Vanessa's family Christmas.” She glares daggers.

“Oh. Cool.” Seth considers this for a moment. “I didn't even know you had a family.”

Warren laughs aloud as her scowl deepens. “Did you think she just spawned out of a hole in the ground, fully formed?”

So, that's how she gets roped int o visiting her family for Christmas. They live in upstate New York, which isn't too much of a drive considering that Vanessa's essentially taken up residence as a property warden at Fablehaven since the fall of Zzyzx. She really needs to get an actual job, if not a life.

“Just wanted to remind you that you can back out at any time,” She tells Warren. They're parked outside the Santoro country house, both dressed in the best clothes they own. Warren, miraculously, appears to have actually made an effort to tame his mop of hair for once.

“Not a chance in hell,” he shoots back, far more at ease than she. “So are you guys rich are something?” He gets out and crosses to her side to open the door for her, offering her a hand up. He looks up at the glittering lights of the house and sets his shoulders. “Let's go, then.”

The front door swings open before either of them touch it, and on the other side is her younger brother, Ivan. He flashes her a cheeky grin. “Vanessa. We didn't think you'd actually show. And you brought a friend, too?” His grin goes feral, revealing straight white teeth.

“Well, here I am. Are you going to stand there gaping at me or are you going to let us in?” Vanessa crosses her arms and arches one eyebrow.

Ivan steps aside, and she hands him her coat as she steps through the door. “Aren't you going to introduce us?”

Vanessa sighs and turns back towards them. Warren and her brother appear to be sizing each other up, like two rival predators. Except that her brother is smiling. Ugh. “Ivan, this is Warren, a friend of mine. Warren, this is my idiot younger brother, Ivan.”

“Don't let Caro get too close,” Ivan says, the stupid little smirk still on his face. “Wouldn't want your friend to be taking a little nap.”

“Tell Caro if she tries anything, I'll break her nose.”

Ivan glances down the hall to where a woman with sleek hair and clothes is yelling down a cell phone in rapid-fire Spanish. “Tell her yourself.” With that, he sweeps away down the hall, shoes clicking on the polished tile. 

Caro hangs up her phone and pinches the bridge of her nose, letting loose an extremely long and increasingly vulgar string of invective. Vanessa is only glad that it's in Spanish, although from the look on Warren's face, she guesses that he gets the gist.

“Vanessa!” Caro strides towards them, arms outstretched and a wide smile on her face. It's quite the contrast from the image she presented just moments ago, the transition from terrifying businesswoman to loving sister just a little too unnerving for her liking. She takes Vanessa by the shoulders and scrutinizes her face. “Have you been eating enough?”

“You sound like Mom,” she grumbles. 

Caro pokes at her ribs. “You're too skinny, Vanessa.” She looks at Warren, eyes narrowed. “Make sure she eats more.”

He gives a mock salute. “Yes, ma'am.”

“You two don't even know each other, why are you talking?” Vanessa asks, but it's as if she isn't even in the room. Her sister looks him up and down, but it's completely different from the way he and Ivan had faced off. Where Ivan had been vaguely flirtatious, Caro is aggressive.

“And who is this?” she asks, tone a little too sharp.

“A guest, Caro. Don't worry, he's a colleague.” Caro doesn't move, her gaze burning holes through Warren's forehead. Vanessa grabs her by the shoulder and forces her to make eye contact. “Hey. Back off.”

She jerks her shoulder from Vanessa's grip and turns her gaze on her. “You know the way to the dining room. I have things to take care of.” She walks away up the main staircase.

Warren lets out a low whistle. “So, she's intense. I think she wanted to take my head off.”

“She'll get over it.” Vanessa sighs and starts towards the dining room, with him following a pace behind. “Just a reminder that you can tap out at any time; I wouldn't inflict my family on my worst enemy.”

“Nah,” Warren says. “This is just getting interesting.”

***

The table is set for three. Even after all this time, her family never ceases to amuse her. Just because she can, Vanessa takes the seat to the left of her mother and puts Warren next to her, so that when her brother and sister show up, they're left without place settings. 

Ivan snickers, while Caro scowls. Sometimes it's good to be the middle child.

But in due time, someone comes with more place settings, and a moment after that, her mother comes into the room. She stops short at the sight of Vanessa sitting at the table, but manages to school her features into complacence.

“You didn't tell me you were coming,” she says. 

“I didn't plan on coming.” She folds her arms across her chest and stares up at her mother. “How've you been, Bianca?”

Bianca sits, and Caro and her brother follow suit after a moment. Her mother rings a gong next to her seat and pours herself a glass of wine. “Oh, just the usual. Not like you, darling, running around the woods all the time, switching sides and carrying out elaborate betrayals. How did that awful business with the Sphinx turn out for you, anyway?”

She really almost has to hand it to her mother. If Warren didn't already know the whole of her involvement with the Society of the Evening Star, that might have been quite an effective knife to the back. She smiles. “Seeing as I've still got my head, I'm going to call it rather successful. Wouldn't you agree, Warren?”

The look on his face is oddly intense, unlike anything she's seen from him, except for the time they met in the inverted tower. “Oh, absolutely. Vanessa was invaluable, in the end. Provided us with vital information.”

A young woman in an apron enters and starts serving dinner. Vanessa doesn't flinch, but Warren does a double take, and she hides a smile. Poor guy has no idea what her mother is like when she's really trying.

“And what about you, Caro?” Vanessa says, in a vain effort to divert the attention from herself. “How's being the terror of the business world going for you? How many Fortune 500 CEOs are you inhabiting?”

Caro rolls her eyes. “You just wish I was inhabiting them. No, I get everything done on my own, and keep my thralls to my personal life and not my colleagues.” She eyes Warren pointedly.

Vanessa slams her fist on the table and leans across it, baring her teeth and hissing, suddenly filled with an incandescent rage. Caro stands and reaches for her, eyes slit-like and an inhuman growl emanating from her throat.

“Temper, temper,” Ivan says. “Are you two going to fight right this second?” They pause and glare at each other, and he snaps, “Sit down.”

Caro raises an eyebrow and sits down, smoothing the lines of her dress, and after a moment, Vanessa follows suit. They continue to eat in silence, forks scraping their plates. Warren's foot nudges hers under the table, and she taps his shoe with her heel.

Ivan clears his throat. “So, Yuri said he was sorry he couldn't make it tonight, but he was on call in the ER and had to be within twenty minutes drive.”

Bianca looks up at that, and the conversation takes a turn towards Ivan's love life, which is something of a relief. The less attention is on Vanessa, the happier she'll be. While the others talk, she leans towards Warren and whispers, “You see why I didn't want to come?”

He nods. “Yeah, jesus, these people are intense. I swear, I thought your sister was going to tear your throat out with her teeth before I could do anything.”

“As if Caro would mess up her lipstick. No, she'd use the razor blade in her purse.” Vanessa pauses. “Are you saying you'd keep my sister from ripping out my throat? That's kind of sweet. Ill advised, but sweet.”

They get through the rest of the dinner without too much incident. Caro glares daggers at her all through the second course, but really, that's only to be expected. They're a hot tempered family, and Caro has always been the most unpredictable. Vanessa and Warren take their leave soon after the dinner is finished. She doesn't want to have to spend any more time than necessary. They're family and she loves them, sure, but god, sometimes they just piss her off. That and the way Ivan is eyeing up Warren is a little concerning.

Back in the car, Vanessa plops into the driver's seat and hits the steering wheel with her forehead. She groans aloud. “Why did we do that, again? I feel like it was your idea. Why'd I let you make me do this?”

Warren shrugs. “Yeah, I really have no idea why I thought that was a good idea. That was kind of awful.”

“Let's never do this again. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”


End file.
